Panda-monium sweeps Adelaide

The Adelaide Zoo has just become the eleventh zoo outside of China that has pandas on show, after taking custody of two giant pandas as part of an international conservation program to boost the species' numbers.

Transcript

KERRY O'BRIEN, PRESENTER: Of all the animals in the world, it would seem reasonable to suggest that none has captured the public's imagination and affection more than the giant panda. While there's an estimated 1,600 left in the wild, there are only 10 zoos outside of China that have pandas on show.

The Adelaide Zoo has just become the 11th after taking custody of two giant pandas as part of an international conservation program to boost the species' numbers. While the animals come with a long list of requirements, in crass commercial terms, they'll more than pay their way.

Mike Sexton reports from Adelaide.

MIKE SEXTON, REPORTER: They might be fussy eaters, inactive by nature and limited breeders, but that hasn't dampened the enthusiasm South Australians have for their newest house guests, two giant pandas.

CLAUDIA CREAM, SA CHINESE COMMUNITY: It's bringing harmony, friendship and you feel that it's sort of relaxation when you see the pandas. They're so cute and cheeky you know, and you say, oh, you know, I feel good.

MIKE SEXTON: Making the pandas feel good is why the zoo has spent $8 million housing Wang Wang, that's the male, and Funi, the female. For the next decade they'll reside in an air conditioned enclosure with separate outdoor living spaces fitted with chilled rocks and a daily ration of 20 kilos of bamboo grown at a dedicated eight hectare plantation north of the city.

CHRIS WEST, ADELAIDE ZOO: Pandas are a bear and a long, long time ago they adapted to a vegetarian diet, but they've still got a carnivore's guts, so it is all pretty inefficient and they spend up to 18 hours a day working their way through huge amounts of bamboo.

MIKE SEXTON: It seems the only system less functional than their digestion is their reproduction. The females mate only four days per year, the males only two, which combined with the loss of habitat, is why there are only 1,600 left in the wild. So the South Australians had to prove to the Chinese that the state of the art enclosure is designed for both viewing and breeding.

CHRIS WEST: We've had other more political delegations who just want to be sure that everything is being done to make sure Wang Wang and Funi have a really good quality of life but are seriously part of the conservation work that they do.

MIKE SEXTON: For Chris West, seeing Wang Wang and Funi arrive is the conclusion of a conversation that started over a sandwich with former foreign minister Alexander Downer.

ALEXANDER DOWNER, FORMER FOREIGN MINISTER: He told me that their greatest ambition would be to have a pair of giant pandas at the zoo. I said, well, how do you get giant pandas? And he said, well, you have to persuade the Chinese to let you have them.

MIKE SEXTON: Canberra and Beijing began negotiating in what is known as soft diplomacy, when countries use their natural assets to win international hearts and minds.

ALISON BROINOWSKI, FORMER DIPLOMAT: For instance, after the Second World War the Japanese had a program of planting cherry blossom trees over the world. Wherever they could get permission to do so, they did. It was a sort of a, think of a Japan in a more positive way

TELEVISION HOST: Mrs Nixon, I hear that you're going to bring over a few panda bears for us, not you personally but that you got the Chinese host to give us some.

MIKE SEXTON: The first known panda gift was more than a century ago, but the most famous was when President Nixon and his wife Pat visited China in 1972.

PAT NIXON: He said, I know you don't have any pandas in your country, so we're going to see that you get a couple.

MIKE SEXTON: Alexander Downer believes ultimately it was the relationship with the Howard government that swung the deal.

ALEXANDER DOWNER: And I think they liked us because we were straight with them. I mean, we're not communists, John Howard and I of course as you and your viewers would know, but, and they are, in a sort of a way. But we explained to them where we stood and what we believed in, but that we thought the relationship with China was important to us.

MIKE SEXTON: After months of negotiation, the deal was signed off with Chinese President Hu Jintao in the weeks before the 2007 federal election.

KEVIN RUDD, CURRENT PRIME MINISTER (September 2007): And I join the Prime Minister in welcoming your gift of pandas to Australia. Mr President, should my party be successful at the next election, we would also welcome pandas coming to my home city of Brisbane.

MIKE SEXTON: While Brisbane can dream, Adelaide is feeling a flush of panda pride with replicas popping up across the city. At a civic reception for a Chinese delegation, the Lord Mayor was presented with silver ingots and had an idea the bears would be worth their weight in gold.

MICHAEL HARBISON, ADELAIDE LORD MAYOR: The great thing is that the pandas, we love the pandas, but a lot of this is spearheading economic development and an improvement of our economic relationship with China, especially for Adelaide.

LI QINGWEN, CHINESE GOVERNMENT DELEGATION (translated): As mentioned, the arrival of the pandas has built up a strong friendship between China and Australia.

MIKE SEXTON: While the pandas come with diplomatic best wishes, they don't come for free. The Federal Government will cover the lease fee of $2 million per year, which is paid to a Chinese conservation fund.

CHRIS WEST: The US Fish and Wildlife Service have done an audit on this contribution to panda conservation on behalf of American zoos and they are satisfied that the money is getting through and it is making a difference.

MIKE SEXTON: Like all zoos, for Adelaide the only thing better than having two pandas would be having three. Given the difficulty the animals have breeding, it would be a victory for conservation and the coffers.

CHRIS WEST: They draw people in from far and wide and it's partly the pleasure of seeing pandas, the exclusivity of it, but it's also because people know they're rare. There are only 1,600 left in the wild, so they're right on the edge of extinction.